2Ki 20:18, Dan 1:3-21 | ESV | STEP | And some of your own sons , who will come from you, whom you will father , shall be taken away , and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon .

18 ^aAnd some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, ^band they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Daniel 1:3-21

3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, ^chis chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family ^{▼▼Hebrew of the seed of the kingdom} and of ^ethe nobility, 4 youths without ^fblemish, of good appearance and ^gskillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to ^hteach them the literature and language of the ⁱChaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of ^jthe food that the king ate, and of ^kthe wine that he drank. They were to be educated for ^lthree years, and at the end of that time they were to ^mstand before the king. 6 Among these were ⁿDaniel, ^oHananiah, ^pMishael, and ^qAzariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And ^rthe chief of the eunuchs ^sgave them names: ^tDaniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

Daniel’s Faithfulness

8 But Daniel ^uresolved that he would not ^vdefile himself with ^wthe king’s food, or with ^xthe wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to ^ydefile himself. 9 ^zAnd God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, 10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” 11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Test your servants for ^aaten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat ^abthe king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate ^acthe king’s food. 16 ^adSo the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them ^aevegetables.

17 As for these four youths, ^afGod gave them learning and ^agskill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had ^ahunderstanding in all visions and dreams. 18 At the end of ^aithe time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore ^ajthey stood before the king. 20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all ^akthe magicians and ^alenchanters that were in all his kingdom. 21 And Daniel ^amwas there until the first year of ^anKing Cyrus.